Oddly enough, the rush to criminalize synthetic marijuana and other synthetic drugs comes at a time when public opinion is dramatically shifting in favor of decriminalizing, and even legally regulating, marijuana.

CNN: Banning fake pot won't make it go away

There also was no agreement on penalties for synthetic marijuana, the dangerous drug known as bath salts or on changes to the gun control law passed in January in response to the Newtown, Conn.

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According to new data from SAMHSA, more young people went to the ER after experiencing the negative effects of synthetic marijuana in 2010 than in previous years, despite the growing awareness that the fake stuff can be more damaging to the brain than the real thing.

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It contained, I was told, just under a ton of marijuana, six hundred grams of cocaine, forty grams of ephedrine, just over a thousand tabs of synthetic drugs (Ecstasy, meth), and slightly more than thirty pounds of crystal.

NEWYORKER: The Kingpins